Global online art sales climb by 15% in 2016: The online art market is booming with sales up by 15 per cent to $3.75bn in 2016, with the traditional bricks-and-mortar auction houses, such as Sotheby’s and Christie’s, powering ahead of their digital-only rivals.

Nazi-looted painting to be auctioned as owners’ heirs fail to halt sale: A 17th-century Dutch old master painting stolen by the Nazis is to be auctioned in Vienna, provoking outrage from the heirs of the owners from whom it was looted who have accused the auction house of moral bankruptcy.

Poland recovers artwork looted in World War II: It was stolen from the Museum during the 1944 Warsaw Uprising by Wilhelm Ohlenbusch, in charge of propaganda within the General Government, a German zone of occupation established after the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in September 1939. During the ceremony at the National Museum, Culture Minister Piotr Gliński said that over 300 works of art have been reclaimed by the Ministry over the past five years.

Is this painting to be sold in Madrid really a work by Velázquez?: The painting Retrato de niña o Joven Inmaculada (Portrait of girl or Young Immaculate), due to be auctioned on 25 April at the Spanish auction house Abalarte in Madrid, is attracting the attention of experts. Billed as a potential early work by Velázquez, the 57cm x 44cm oil on canvas was discovered by chance by Richard de Willermin, a specialist in 17th- and 18th-century Italian, Flemish and Spanish art and a consultant for Abalarte. Specialists at Madrid’s Prado museum have examined the painting but have declined to comment publicly on whether it is an authentic work by Velázquez.

Yves Bouvier clears legal hurdle in Singapore: The Swiss businessman and freeport magnate Yves Bouvier won a crucial battle in Singapore, where a civil court of appeal decided that the country does not have the jurisdiction to consider a lawsuit filed against him by the Russian billionaire collector Dmitry Rybolovlev. In a 59-page decision released on 18 April, the high court states that Switzerland is likely to be the appropriate forum for the case.

Germany to investigate mass plunder of works of art by Stasi in Cold War era: Germany has dealt with the long shadow of Nazi-era looting for many years. Now the government is setting aside funding to investigate another dark chapter of the past: the expropriation of works of art by the Stasi, the East German secret police, during the Cold War. The research could open the door to new restitution claims from the families of victims.

Nazi-looted Kirchner Painting Stays in German Museum After $1.28 Million Settlement: The German government has intervened to provide $1.28 million to the Wilhelm Hack Museum in Ludwigshafen so that the institution could buy back The Judgement of Paris, a Nazi-looted Ernst Ludwig Kirchner painting stolen from the Hess family during World War II.

Nowhere to hide: new tool brings technical firepower to the fight against fraudsters: A new platform launching this month from Art Fraud Insights seeks to clean up the unregulated online art marketplace by hunting down fakes, forgeries and copyright infringement.

German government appeals Guelph treasure ruling: Last Friday’s appeal was the first time Germany has defended itself before a US court on the subject of Nazi looted art. The case centres on the Guelph treasure housed in Berlin’s Kunstgewerbemuseum. The heirs of three Frankfurt art dealers claim that in 1935, the Nazis forced their families to sell the 44 pieces at 35% of the market price.

Peggy Guggenheim’s great-grandchildren say New York exhibition violates her legacy: Three great-grandchildren of Peggy Guggenheim are accusing the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation in New York of defying the wishes of the late collector.

Alec Baldwin’s Lawsuit Against Mary Boone Heads to Trial: Baldwin alleges that the $190,000 Ross Bleckner painting he bought from Boone’s eponymous gallery in 2010 is not the painting she delivered. Six years later he realized that she sold him a different work from the artist’s “Sea and Mirror” series.

German group appeals decision to allow lawsuit over Nazi art theft claims: A German foundation appealed a decision by a U.S. federal judge to allow a lawsuit to proceed against Germany over claims of a Nazi-era theft from Jewish art dealers of a collection of mediaeval art treasures. The Prussian Cultural Foundation (SPK) said the claim, which seeks the return of the Welfenschatz collection including centuries-old busts of saints and golden crucifixes, was without merit and did not involve a forced sale due to Nazi persecution.

Reclusive Photographer Vivian Maier Is Subject of New Lawsuit Over Sales of Her Work: The life of nanny and secret photographer Vivian Maier has been the subject of fascination ever since the release of the documentary Finding Vivian Maier, in 2014. That film’s debut led to a conflict over who rediscovered the late photographer, who died in 2009 without a will and with no known heirs.

Lawsuit against art historian over fake Rothko settled out of court: The Las Vegas billionaire casino magnate Frank Fertitta has settled his claims against the Swiss art historian Oliver Wick in one of the ten lawsuits brought against the now-defunct Knoedler gallery for knowingly selling fakes. The terms of the settlement, filed in Manhattan federal court on Tuesday, 11 April, were not disclosed.

Prince Photographer Fires Back at Warhol Foundation Copyright Suit: Photographer Lynn Goldsmith is contesting the Warhol Foundation’s account of events outlined in an April 7 civil court proceeding. The Foundation sued Goldsmith after she complained about a copyright infringement over an image she took of the late pop star Prince, which she alleges Warhol used to make a screenprint of the famed musician.

The Cleveland Museum of Art returns bust of emperor’s ‘bloodthirsty’ son to Italy: The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) will return an ancient Roman bust that was looted during the Second World War to Italy. The museum and the Italian ministry of cultural heritage, activities and tourism announced the agreement on 18 April, after the museum “became aware of the facts that were inconsistent with our understanding of the provenance of the sculpture”, the museum’s director William Grisworld said in a joint statement with the Italian ministry.

Legal battle over Schiele works owned by Jewish entertainer who died in Dachau: A dispute in New York over two watercolours by Egon Schiele will revisit the tragic life of their owner in the 1930s, Fritz Grünbaum, a popular Jewish entertainer in Vienna who died a Nazi prisoner in Dachau.

New York Banking Royalty’s Heirs Are Unloading Art to Save the Family Estate: Beyond the formal gardens, past sculpted terraces and ornate fountains, rises Wethersfield – the country estate of what was once one of America’s wealthiest families. Stillman’s heirs are fighting to preserve their beloved Wethersfield in an age of cold financial reality. Sumptuous artworks collected by the late Chauncey Devereux Stillman, grandson of the family patriarch, are being placed on the auction block.

Don’t Blame the Russians, Tax Judge Tells Sotheby’s Expert: When a Sotheby’s official appraised a painting by Pieter Bruegel the Younger in 2005, he set its value at $500,000. But when the owner of the 17th-century work, “St. George’s Kermis With the Dance Around the Maypole,” sold it at a Sotheby’s auction in 2009, it drew more than four times that amount, or $2.1 million. What explains the wide gap between the estimated and actual value of the work?

One man’s epic quest to recover a stolen painting by ‘Iraq’s Picasso’: The president of the Iraqi Artist’s Society is on a mission to return a painting by Faeq Hassan—who he calls “Iraq’s Picasso”—to the Iraqi state. The 1968 painting, a dramatic depiction of Saladin’s famous 12th century conquest of Jerusalem from the Crusaders, was due to be auctioned at Christie’s Dubai last month, but was withdrawn after he sent a letter to the auction house. “I am like Sherlock Holmes,” says Qasim al-Sabti, the Artist’s Society president.

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